LAST EDITED ON Sep-28-13 AT 01:46PM (MST)[p]The stars finally aligned Thursday morning and I was able to harvest this great buck. I had posted pics of him before the archery season. I affectionately named him Moose because of the palmation on his left side. I hunted him hard with a bow, only to come up agonizingly close multiple times. One day we spent about 8 hours together less than 100 yards apart, but I was unable to close any distance due the 15 other deer all around me. I ended the archery season a little frustrated and completely worn out, but I was confident that he would still be around when muzzy season rolled around.
Before I go too far, I want to send out a big thanks to Tyrell Orme. He volunteered to make the long trek in with me for the muzzy opener, and was a huge help. Thanks man! After getting to camp Tuesday night, I quickly glassed him up and felt confident that I would get a crack at him on the opener. When the sun rose Wednesday morning, Moose was no where in sight. There was however another buck I had been watching, a big framed 4 with a drop tine. I made the decision that if that buck came in range i would take him. He was at about 375 yards, feeding my direction, when out of nowhere another hunter took a shot at him, spooked him about 20 yards, and then about 10 minutes later took another crack at him. They were actually behind my friend Tyrell and he estimated they were roughly 400 yards from the deer, and they never even went to look for blood. Disgusting! After that, we hardly saw anything the rest of the day. But I still felt confident.
After another night of almost no sleep due to torential winds, we got to our glassing spot nice and early, we picked up Moose almost immediately. He was right at 200 yards, my limit, and I settled the red dot on him.....click....nothing! The cap went off, but the powder didn't ignite. My mind was racing thinking I had just blown my chance I've been working so hard for. Three more caps proceeded to fail to ignite the powder. Tyrell suggested I pack my powder once to see if that would help, and sure enough the next time the gun fired. I hit him and he slumped and trotted into the nearby trees. We quickly move down ridge to get into position and I ended up putting two more shots into him before he finally went down. The first shot ended up being a little low and back, the second shot was just behind the shoulder (somehow he took that one and didn't even flinch), and the third shot was high shoulder and it put him down in his tracks. For those interested in score, he actually only ends up in the mid 60's. He has a tremendously showy rack, but his short backs, and short inside spread knock him back. As I said before, score matters nothing to me, and I couldn't be happier with this buck.
Before I go too far, I want to send out a big thanks to Tyrell Orme. He volunteered to make the long trek in with me for the muzzy opener, and was a huge help. Thanks man! After getting to camp Tuesday night, I quickly glassed him up and felt confident that I would get a crack at him on the opener. When the sun rose Wednesday morning, Moose was no where in sight. There was however another buck I had been watching, a big framed 4 with a drop tine. I made the decision that if that buck came in range i would take him. He was at about 375 yards, feeding my direction, when out of nowhere another hunter took a shot at him, spooked him about 20 yards, and then about 10 minutes later took another crack at him. They were actually behind my friend Tyrell and he estimated they were roughly 400 yards from the deer, and they never even went to look for blood. Disgusting! After that, we hardly saw anything the rest of the day. But I still felt confident.
After another night of almost no sleep due to torential winds, we got to our glassing spot nice and early, we picked up Moose almost immediately. He was right at 200 yards, my limit, and I settled the red dot on him.....click....nothing! The cap went off, but the powder didn't ignite. My mind was racing thinking I had just blown my chance I've been working so hard for. Three more caps proceeded to fail to ignite the powder. Tyrell suggested I pack my powder once to see if that would help, and sure enough the next time the gun fired. I hit him and he slumped and trotted into the nearby trees. We quickly move down ridge to get into position and I ended up putting two more shots into him before he finally went down. The first shot ended up being a little low and back, the second shot was just behind the shoulder (somehow he took that one and didn't even flinch), and the third shot was high shoulder and it put him down in his tracks. For those interested in score, he actually only ends up in the mid 60's. He has a tremendously showy rack, but his short backs, and short inside spread knock him back. As I said before, score matters nothing to me, and I couldn't be happier with this buck.
